Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Just wondering what type of tires people are running. With the light weight of a teardrop I am considering a passenger car tire

I just put a good set of Auto tires on my Scotty, a relatively heavy Tiny Trailer.

And have done the same over the years with other "Single Axle Trailers"

I would never do it with a twin axle trailer as the stress on the sidewalls when turning is in my opinion a bit excessive for auto tires.

Besides, you can't get trailer tires with Wide Whitewalls.



Happy Trails

Len

streetrod23 wrote:Just wondering what type of tires people are running. With the light weight of a teardrop I am considering a passenger car tire

Good idea. Trailer tires have rigid side walls for heavy loads, more bounce for a relatively light weight camper. Some also smooth out the ride even more by running with a little less air than the tires are rated for.

Steve, I have a 12 cargo trailer. Does not carry too much weight, but my tire guy insists that I have trailer tires, which are more expensive.

Thoughts?

On my tear I use car tires. They don't make trailer tires that size, I don't believe, and if they did I'd still use car tires.

dave

len19070 wrote:Besides, you can't get trailer tires with Wide Whitewalls.

Happy Trails

Len

I'm with you on that Len!!! Doug

The whole idea behind trailer tires is that they have stronger sidewalls to carry more weight without building excessive heat. Excessive heat causes tire failures (spontaneous blowouts). Too much weight for the tire or too little air in the tire causes excessive heat.

So, on a teardrop that does not weigh a whole lot, you really do not need a trailer tire. Also, do some testing to find the optimum air pressure for your tires on your TD.

I use passenger radials on my roughly 750 pound TD, and only air them up to about 24 pounds, to reduce bounce. I have tested this setup, and even after hours of driving at highway speeds in summer temperatures, the tires remain just warm, not hot.

CD

A higher preasure/harder tire means less rolling resistance e.g. the street slicks on our tandem bicycle runs at 110LB PSI and the MTB tires run at 45 Lbs.

I'm not sure that I buy the argument that a tandem axle trailer puts too much stress on the sidewalls when turning or at least enough to worry about. I believe the biggest consideration is the capacity of the tires you are using. I have run auto tires on my tandem axle for years w/o a single problem (aside from stray nails). They are rated for about 1500# each so the trailer can be up to 6,000# w/o exceeding the capacity of the tires at 35psi. I just got a set of 4 trailer tires for free! They are rated 2,800# each at 80psi. Mounted on my trailer the capacity would go up to 11,200#! That, of course, will never happen. I'd just make sure you are within the limits of the tires you are using.

Cheers,

Gus